If You're Thinking of Living In/Thornwood, N.Y.; Finding a Happy Medium in Westchester

By CHERYL PLATZMAN WEINSTOCK

Published: July 30, 2000

WHEN Dr. Chukwuma Onyeije and his wife, Nwaozichi, decided to move from the Bronx to the suburbs this spring, they wanted enough land for their son, 4, to roam, so they first looked in the northernmost sections of Westchester.

But Dr. Onyeije, an obstetrician specializing in high-risk pregnancies at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, said, ''It seemed too far for me to commute quickly to the hospital for a delivery. So we started looking in southern Westchester, but didn't see anything we liked. For what we were looking for, it was too expensive. There wasn't enough land, and the homes were too small.''

In May, they found a new four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home on slightly less than an acre of land for $489,000 in the hamlet of Thornwood, in central Westchester, that was the ''ultimate happy medium,'' Dr. Onyeije said. ''I thought this was an extremely good buy compared to what we had been seeing.''

But along with their home in the Town of Mount Pleasant, Dr. Onyeije said he and his wife, a nurse midwife at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, also fell in love with Thornwood. ''This is a happy community,'' he said. ''We met more people on the street in the last two months than we did in the Bronx in eight years. I can't believe we found such a nice place, such a neighborhood, for the amount we paid. Every day we're always fascinated by the richness of the neighborhood's cultural activities, artistic events and people. Clearly, for the foreseeable future, this a great neighborhood to raise kids.''

Few residents of Thornwood ever leave the hilly hamlet where stately spruces, willows and maples cast shadows on streets named Poe, Byron, Keats and Whittier. ''A lot of people just move up,'' said Faye Kallina, president of the Century 21 Haviland Realty Corporation in Pleasantville. She said that the median home price increased in the last year to $395,000 from $325,000.

Michael DiNardo grew up in neighboring Hawthorne and moved to Thornwood in 1981 with his parents. When Mr. DiNardo, who owns Silvio's Restaurant and Pizzeria in the hamlet, married and began his own family, he bought a home in Thornwood. ''As far as convenience, quality of life and what I could purchase for what I could afford, there really aren't too many towns out there that can compare to Thornwood,'' he said. ''I feel I can really relate to the friendly, outgoing, hard-working people in this town.'' Now that the DiNardos and their three children have outgrown their home, Mr. DiNardo said his wife, Lynne, ''won't consider moving to a new home in any town other than Thornwood.''

Margaret Guadagno, president of Gains Realty Inc. in Thornwood and White Plains, said the housing market in Thornwood was ''scorching, not just hot, because of its accessibility to the city, comparatively low taxes, recreational opportunities and affordability.''

But she said customers seeking to buy the handful of bungalows, Cape Cods and older small colonials in the hamlet in the $235,000-to-$350,000 price range might have to compete with ''a long line of builders waiting to buy a small house, knock it down and build a new one that's double or triple its size.'' Recently, she said, a couple signed an unconditional contract on a 1,100-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bath colonial on 0.11 acre for $239,500 that needed a lot of renovating.

FROM there, prices reach $425,000 for three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath split levels, Cape Cods, colonials and ranches, built on a quarter acre, that range from 1,600 to 2,200 square feet. About 50 newer, larger colonials in the Rolling Hills section of the hamlet that are built on one acre of land or more are priced from $430,000 to $650,000, Ms. Kallina said. The few homes on the market beyond this price range are unusual, like a 1789 farmhouse listed at $725,000.

Other housing options in the hamlet are the 27 condominium units at Kensico Arms, a converted school, where a two-bedroom unit sells for about $200,000. There are also 51 two- and three-bedroom town houses in the hamlet in two developments, the Crossings and Marble Heights. Their price ranges from $325,000 to $370,000. Rentals are available in the hamlet's few multifamily homes and in the 100 legal accessory apartments in residents' homes. Ms. Guadagno said a two-bedroom apartment rented for $1,200 a month.

It was more than real estate that lured Kathy Gill-Charest, the controller of Young & Rubicam in Manhattan, and her husband, Daniel, an assistant vice president at Lehman Brothers, to the hamlet in 1998. ''Thornwood is a smattering of middle-class and hard-working executives who have a more realistic bent to their lives than other places in Westchester,'' Mrs. Gill-Charest said. ''We liked that.''

The configuration of the 1,800-student Mount Pleasant Central School District also drew their attention. It has a school for kindergarten and first grade and a separate one for the second through fourth grades. ''I think this is very special,'' Mrs. Gill-Charest said. ''It keeps the staff attuned to the individual developmental needs of young children and guards them in a nurturing and protective environment. They've been able to give my daughter, Michelle, individual attention in the areas she needs it. My son, Michael, used to go to private school before we moved here, and he wasn't as happy there as he is here.''